I went rappeling on Whitesides Mtn. in North Carolina this past weekend.  It was in preparation for Bridge Day on the New River Gorge Bridge.  The team I am on has a requirement - no Whitesides rappel, no Bridge Day rappel.  I had to do one to do the other.

Whitesides is a 650 ft. rappel and Bridge Day is an 850 ft. rappel.  My longest rappel before this weekend was 230 ft.  I was very nervous.

The Whitesides drop has a 2000 ft. visual exposure, so when you start at the top it really does look like you are going to be 2000 ft. from the ground.  Saturday we hauled the rope and all the gear up to the rigging point.

The predicted weather was sunny with a slight chance of showers.  But the mountain remained cloudy for much of the day.  This in fact took away the visual trick of the exposure and made contemplating the rappel easier.



The way the drop is rigged is thus:  a 50 ft. rope (we had two rigged) leads to a ledge.  The main 650 ft. ropes are rigged to bolts in the rock on the ledge.  The rappeller has to switch to the big rope, rappel to the lip of the drop, pass a couple of rope pads, and then off the side of the face.  There is a free drop about 400 or so feet. 
Saturday I got down the 50 ft. rope to the ledge, sat there for about an hour or so watching other team members go over the lip, decided it wasn't my day, and went back to the top.  I thus gave up my pass to rappel off the Bridge.   I could still go out on the catwalk, and still be on the volunteer belay team, but no bridge rappel for me.  I sat at the top very sad with myself.